Finally!

Here are my latest 2 chairs. They took a long time as I'm moving house and don't have a lot of time to work on my caning. They're pretty but not in great shape.

My new best friend

Yesterday I tried out my adapted grout steamer. I got my idea from Mindy King who is in the Seatweavers' Guild. I saw her YouTube video on using a steamer to loosen spline on a pressed cane chair. Oh My! 45 minutes and I cleaned out 3 chairs. It can take me over an hour to clean out one with a spline chisel and a mallet. The steam was wonderful, softened the glue right away. My fingers got very sticky, but that was the only unpleasantness in the process. That might be the best $30.00 I've spent on a caning tool. Now it will take longer to put in the cane that it takes to clean out the groove. Now That's progress!

Christmas (and other times) decoration

My Carolina Snowflakes are quite popular, especially at Christmas. Shown is one made of 1/2 inch Flat Reed with 13 inch strands.

Sewing rocker

This is a little sewing rocker I rebuilt and re-caned for a co-worker. It has no nails, only wooden pegs. Again it's Binder Cane in a 4 count herringbone.
1/30/2013 One of the students broke one of the rockers so I repaired it and advised my co-worker to take it home.

Stool

Here's a little stool I did in Binder Cane using a herringbone pattern of 4

Project

I'm currently working on a miniature Cracker Barrel rocker. My friend Bill brought it by and he's in no hurry to get it back as he has no grandkids yet. I'll finish the seat on Saturday and hopefully the back too. I scaled down the fiber rush for it as the full sized ones come in 7/32" rush and that looked too blocky on the little chair. Pictures to come.

Much later: I did finish this rocker but I forgot to photograph it. The grandchild was born before I finished the doggone chair!

Genesis

Well, I'm finally doing it. I have been a caner for over 25 years. I'm sure I have caned over a thousand chairs (mostly fiber rush ladder-backs) and I will now start to chronicle my work.